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MeningiomaAndCoffee said:
BIDMC/harvard vs. Penn vs. Columbia

I care most about the highest prestige with the best work life balance and the nicest faculty.
I hear all of these is super hard working so, it might fall to which has the highest prestige to nicest faculty ratio.

Also, while I care about nice faculty a lot, a part of my ego having gone to a low tier college and low tier DO school just wants to taste prestige for once in my life.
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Penn>BIDMC>Columbia.

I trained down the coast many years ago but not at one of these places so my advice is essentially worthless. I interviewed at Penn and BIDMC. Penn had a great reputation for AP and CP. BIDMC was kind of like the red headed step child of the Harvard family, heavily in the shadow of mgh and bwh. The facilities were also a dump and looked like it was held together by bubblegum and duct tape. None of the NYC programs had that great of a reputation.
 
IMO the "high prestige" places often (always?) carry an inverse relationship with "work life balance". Choosing a residency based on how fancy the certificate will look hanging on your wall (which I'll add is a wall that will receive a limited viewership...you're a pathologist) is a suboptimal way to go about it.
-Case volume.
-Case variety.
-Fellowship opportunities.
-Quality of life.
Not necessarily in that order.

If I've learned one thing practicing pathology it's that your days on this planet are limited and you never know when your number is gonna be called. Don't waste time & energy trying to impress yourself or potential onlookers, get the best training you can find that will afford you the most happiness whilst doing so. Unless you have aspirations to be a world renowned XYZ pathologist.

I get it that the mediocrity of a no-name college and med school can leave you feeling unfulfilled, but I don't think an ivy league residency will necessarily fill the void. It might, I suppose. Having kids will also fill that void. Or making a crap ton of money might also.
 
Just go to the program with the least amount of psychopath attendings and fellow residents. 4 years of training is a long time. Make sure you are happy wherever you go.
 
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I’d say Columbia, UPenn, then BI. Although I’d probably rank BI over Penn due to location. You said prestige is a big factor. Everyone knows Columbia is IVY league. No doubts there. Most know UPenn is Ivy but for some reason many lay people don’t know. BI is affiliated with Harvard, but if you go anywhere besides the NE, many don’t know this and would assume it’s some community hospital.

It would have cost 60k a year or more to go to an IVY for undergrad. Instead they will pay you and you still get the Ivy diploma. So I totally understand the desire to get that pedigree now. That nationally recognized training will serve you well no matter where you chose to get a job after. Not that it will be some ticket to a great job, but anyone will assume your training was decent and that they can market you as a new IVY league trained hire to the hospital etc. The best time to be an IVY league guy is residency or fellowship. Don’t have to pay the crazy tuition, get to live in the same college town/area. You make almost nothing as a resident no matter where you go, so why not. Then, after training you can decide where you want to work. Most likely the areas of these Ivy League residencies will be lower paying. That’s when you go to greener pastures in private practice.
 
macrocyte said:
I’d say Columbia, UPenn, then BI. Although I’d probably rank BI over Penn due to location. You said prestige is a big factor. Everyone knows Columbia is IVY league. No doubts there. Most know UPenn is Ivy but for some reason many lay people don’t know. BI is affiliated with Harvard, but if you go anywhere besides the NE, many don’t know this and would assume it’s some community hospital.

It would have cost 60k a year or more to go to an IVY for undergrad. Instead they will pay you and you still get the Ivy diploma. So I totally understand the desire to get that pedigree now. That nationally recognized training will serve you well no matter where you chose to get a job after. Not that it will be some ticket to a great job, but anyone will assume your training was decent and that they can market you as a new IVY league trained hire to the hospital etc. The best time to be an IVY league guy is residency or fellowship. Don’t have to pay the crazy tuition, get to live in the same college town/area. You make almost nothing as a resident no matter where you go, so why not. Then, after training you can decide where you want to work. Most likely the areas of these Ivy League residencies will be lower paying. That’s when you go to greener pastures in private practice.
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is this AI/bot generated?
 
In my group most of the younger cohort (<45) don't even hang their degrees on the wall.
 
ScubaV said:
In my group most of the younger cohort (<45) don't even hang their degrees on the wall.
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Ha, true. All my diplomas are in a file cabinet in my office. No one cares.
 
Where do you want to settle? Are you geographically restricted? It's better to train close to where you want to practice - it helps with networking and connections. In addition, practice styles/signout vary dramatically based on geographic regions. It's an easier transition to practice close to where you trained.
 
The private practice job market has changed a lot in the last 5 years. Previously, the best jobs were partnership groups. To get these jobs the most important thing seemed to be networking and training at a strong program in the same region. More and more of the jobs now are large corporate owned groups or hospital employed groups. In the current market, training at a well known place, even if in a different region from where you want to work, should be fine for getting one of these jobs. For these types of jobs the highest paying ones are in the less desirable or more rural locations. I see residency as an opportunity to live in a desirable city for 4-5 years without making the sacrifice of lower pay. After training, if you choose to live in a popular city, your salary will be significantly less than a smaller town. Plus things like high state income taxes and cost of buying a home become big considerations after training. You don’t have to worry about pay or high state income as a resident. Residency is a great opportunity to live in a city like NYC or Boston. After training, living in a place like that might not be worth all the sacrifices in cost and income.
 
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